The Nets may only be two days into informal team workouts, but Tyshawn Taylor is already getting treated like a rookie.
“I had to drive [Jerry] Stackhouse to the track today,” Taylor said Tuesday with a laugh. “It was just me and him in the car. He sat in the back. I started laughing and we had a good laugh.
“They’re cool, man … our vets are so cool. They just want to win. They come into work every day with a mission. They’re like, we start work early because we want to win, and that’s kind of the atmosphere around the team. It’s gonna be a fun year because we’re gonna win and be competitive, so everybody’s excited about it. It’s just a lot of fun in the locker room and stuff like that, so it’s fun.”
Taylor was in midtown Manhattan at an event for “NBA Baller Beats,” a video game featuring teammate Deron Williams on the cover. It was a short break for Taylor from working out with his teammates at the team’s practice facility. After Williams said that seven players, including Taylor, had been in attendance Monday, Joe Johnson and Gerald Wallace were expected to arrive Tuesday.
“So far, so good,” Taylor said of the workouts. “As a rookie man, I haven’t felt much like an NBA player because I haven’t really been doing anything with the team. After Summer League, it was kind of just on your own until yesterday. It was good to get around the vets and starting to get a routine. It feels weird having so much free time.
“It’s good to have a routine, because I’ve been living on one in college the last four years, and to have so much free time is kind of weird. So I feel good to have a routine … it feels good to be around the older guys and just start learning and playing and being a team.”
Taylor has spent the summer taking a bit of a break, as well as finding an apartment in Hoboken. But after getting a chance to take some time off and see some family and friends, he admitted that it was still taking some time to get used to the idea that he’s actually an NBA player now.
“Not even yet,” he said when asked if the idea had sunk in yet. “Like today, I walked in the locker room and I’m working out with [Jerry] Stackhouse, you know what I mean? Deron Williams is right next to me and [I’m] playing against him … it’s just a weird feeling. These are the guys that I’ve been watching my whole life. It just feels crazy.
“Once I get out of this little bit of a fan stage and more like, ‘I’m a player, too,’ it’ll feel better. But I’m excited. Like I said, I’m just happy to be here. I just signed an autograph for a kid, and he’s like, ‘I didn’t even know you were in the NBA! You look like a regular guy!’ That’s how I feel. I’m a regular guy in the NBA, so I’m just happy to be here and I’m excited and I’m just looking forward to October and training camp and then November when the games start.”